HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Huntington City Council held a special meeting Thursday to discuss ways to address the city’s budget shortfall, with one possible solution being cutting police, fire and public works jobs.
Mayor Steve Williams said the deficit is because of increasing health care costs, unexpected pension costs and department overspending. Williams said while he went to each department in June to ask for a five percent budget cut, the situation has gotten worse because of increasing pension payments.
If layoffs happened, a third of the Huntington Police Department as well as Huntington Fire Department would be cut. Public works would lose 10 percent of its staff. Layoffs would first affect those with the least amount of seniority.
The police and fire departments have made additional adjustments in their respective budgets, but it is still not enough; the police department has a $400,000 deficit, and the fire department is projected to be almost $1.2 million over budget.
Williams said he has not asked for layoffs, but does not want to raise fees on citizens He also added he is willing to take a pay cut.
The city council voted to give Williams a $10,000 pay raise in December, bringing his total salary to $85,000.
No decisions were made at the meeting.